"I don't respect him," Rowe, a 56-year-old who serves on the Caroline County board of education, told Kilgore. "He doesn't deserve to be watched. Absolutely not, I'm sorry. You know, and now they got all this about his tying Willie Mays's record and the $6 million, and he has the audacity to think that he should be paid. I'm sorry. I don't respect the guy. Not one bit."

Anderson, a 20-year-old Towson University student who frequents Camden Yards in his years-long quest for baseballs, said he'd never seen anything like it.

"Orioles fans, they love to boo players — that's pretty much what they do," Anderson said in a telephone interview. "But I've never seen anyone take a stand like that. Honestly, take a stand is what he did. When he first stood up, I thought it was a joke. But when he stood for the whole at bat, I realized the guy was really passionate about it and didn't like A-Rod."

"When he did it for at-bats two, three, and four, I realized he really didn't like A-Rod," Anderson said.

At first, Anderson said people laughed and took pictures, but by the end of the game, even the Yankees fans in his section seemed to respect Rowe's dedication.

He's interested to see if anyone follows suit the rest of the season, where Rodriguez will play several more times.

"The tweet got a lot more press than I thought it would, so maybe some O's fans will stand with this guy and do the same," he said. "I don't know if anybody is that crazy about it. They might just want to enjoy the game."